Push button



3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

C. O. MAILLOUX.

PUSH BUTTON. N0. 575,523. Patented Jam. 19, l 897.

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(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

C. 0. MAILLOUX.'

' PUSH BUTTON.

No. 575,525. Patented Jan. 19, 1897.

l yz M Afro/wey.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

0. 0. MAILLOUX.

PUSH BUTTON.

No. 575,523. Patentedmi. 19, 1897.

ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CYIRIN MAILIIOUX, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

PUSH-BUTTON.

To @ZZ whom, it' may concern:

Be it known that I, CYPRIEN O. MAILLOUX, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improved Push-Button, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of electrical switches commonly called push-button, and particularly to a means of securely inclosing the circuit-controlling parts thereof against the admission of dust and insects.

rlhe invention is designed with especial reference to the push-buttons or controllingswitches used in the elevator systems patented to me on April 2 and July 30, 1895, under numbers 536,730 and 548,495; respectively, though I contemplate applying it to any and all controllin g-switches that require such protection, and especially to those that are to be let into walls or partitions. Incidental to the protect-ion afforded to the mechanism my invention also secures a neatness of finish which especially adapts my push-buttons to the most elegantlydinished interiors. To simply incase a piece of mechanism against dust and insects is not, as a general thing, a difficult matter, but it is not so easy to incase such parts and still have the electrical connections thereto readily accessible. In myinvention, however, the parts of the mechanism and the protecting devices are so constructed and combined that it is very easy to get at the circuit-terminals without in any way exposing the contact mechanism, so that when a pushbutton or a combination of push-buttons has been made up it may be set, or when set the moved.

circuit-conductors may be connected thereto or changed without opening into or disarranging the contact mechanism.

Vith these objects in view my invention consists in the construction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter described, and set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, Figure 1 represents in face view one form of my invention. Fig. 2 is a like View with the face-plate re- Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the device with the casing in section. Fig. 4 is a vertical section through the same, taken in the Patent No. 575,523, dated January 19, 1897.

Serial No. 594,230. (No model.)

plane indicated by line 4 4, Fig. l. Fig. 5 is a rear view of the device with the casing removed. Fig. 6 is a face view of my invention embodied in another form. Fig. 7 is an edge view thereofI with the casing in section. Fig. 8 is a rear view with the casing removed. Figs. 9 and 10 are diagrams of the circuits of the two forms of devices involved in the disclosure of the invention.

I have illustrated my invention in connection with self-holding push-buttons of the electromagnetic sort, such as are used in the elevator systems above referred to. In pushbuttons of this sort the necessity for complete protection is far greater than in others where magnets are not used.

I have shown in Figs. 1 to 5 that combinaH tion of push-buttons which I have designed for use upon the car ofA a passenger-elevator wherein one button controls the upward movement of the car and another the downward movement, as indicated by the names Up and Down upon the face-plate of the device. In connection with these I also use a pushbutton controlling the return-circuitfrom the other twoV push-buttons, which acts to stop the movement of the car, whatever be its direction of travel, and has adjacent thereto upon the face-plate the word Stop, as shown in Fig. l. The self-holding magnets lare of the sort illustrated and described in my patent iirst referred to.

rIhe device in detail consists of a framehaving a top plate 9 and a bottom plate 10, which are joined by suitable connecting-posts 11, which plates furnish a support for the various parts of the mechanism. The up and down magnets 12 and 13 are secured to the bottom plate, the stems ofthe push-buttons controlled thereby projecting at their outer ends through bosses 14 and 15, arising from the top plate 9, and their inner ends passing through the bottomplate is secured a block of insulation 19, upon which is mounted a plate, as 20, probottom plate and terminated by insulated ICO vided with spring-terminals projecting' into the path of the contact-plates lo. Upon this insulation are also mounted two separate plates 2l and 22, which are likewise provided with spring-terminals projecting into the path of said contacts 16, so that when the stems of buttons lt or l5 are depressed circuit will bc closed between the plate 2l or 22 and plate 20.

rlhe stem of the stop-button plays through a boss 23 upon the top plate, extends through the bottom plate and the insulation ll), and has upon its inner end a contact-plate 2l, preferably of the star pattern, as indicated, which engages with a disk 25, mounted upon a raised portion of insulation ll). The stein of the stop-button is returned to place by means of a spiral spring placed about it, as indicated, which keeps the contact 24 closed upon the disk 25, said stein being in electrical contact with the metal of the frame.

The top plate 9 is made of special form in carrying out my invention. It is provided in the iirst place with holes A7 :for bolts or screws by which it is to be secured in place, has the bosses for the push-button stems secured thereto, and is provided with the lateral notches 2S and 2S). To the under side of this plate is secured a block of insulation 30, which is recessed at the notches 2S and 20 and has located therein at said recesses the cireuit-terminals of the device represented at 3l, 32, 33, Si, and 35. The terminal is eX- tended beyond the insulation to engage with the bottom plate l0, as indicated in Fig. 3. The lateral edges of the block ot' insulation are rabbeted to provide a shoulder for engagement with the protecting casing Sti, which is constructed to iit snugly against the rear surface of the top plate and to said shoulders, as in Fig. 7, it being secured in this position by any suitable means, as by screws passing through it .into the edges of insulation li), the hole for one of such screws being indicated at 237, one screw for this purpose in the second form of my invention being illustrated at SS, Fig. 7, wherein the casing is shown substantially as just described.

The recesses for the reception of the terminals just described are formed in such a manner that their walls shall extend to the top plate at all points about the notches, so as to allow n o communication between sa id recesses and the interior of the frame. lVith the parts thus constructed and the casing in place all the contact mechanism of the device is securely inclosed, the eircuit-terminals being exposed for making ready connection thereto upon the removal et' the faceplate. This depression of the circuit-terminals in the surface of the case, as in the recesses in the plate of insulation (which recesses are preferably open at the sides, as shown) is an important feature, since access to said terminals is thereby rendered easy and the connection of cond uctors thereto greatly facilitated. The simple removal of the face-plate discloses these parts, and when in place said plate conceals them perfectly.

Between the terminals l-l and l have shown a strip of metal 39, simplyto complete the circuit between said terminals, which are designed to receive the ends of a branch or loop circuit that may be led to a cireuil breaker operated bythe car-door, as set forth in the patent Afirst referred to, should it be d esired to use such additional safeguari'l, lle tween these terminals might alsobe placed a fuse for the protection of the magnets in case this apparatus should be used on a system where heavy currents might stray into the controlling system, but in my system such an event could not possibly occur.

The face-plate is provided with pe rlforalions to receive the bosses and with simply two screw-holes for its attachment tothe top plate. This face-plate may therefore be ornamented in any desired manner to suit the location and conceals the securing means el the device.

In this eombin ation of push-buttons the circuits are as illustrated in Fig. 5. The circuit to magnet 13, starting 'from terminal i525, extends through the coilof said magnet to plate 22, then, when the down-button is pushed, across the plate lo to plate 20, thence through 30, and to disk 25, through contact 2l, stem of stop-button 2U, and the frame to terminal 152. The circuit through the tip-button is over a corresponding route upon the operation of said button. lVhen one ol' these but` tons is pushed, circuit is closed, as just de scribed, through the magnet pertaining thereto and the armature 17 is held down, maintaining the circuit until the stop-lmt-ton is operated which separates contacts 2l and. in the return, denergizes the magnet, and allows the stemv of the button operated to return to place.

The other form of my invention (il lustratcd in. Figs. G, 7, and S) is that embodied Vin what l have termed the 1anding-switch in my elevator system above referred to, which consists oit' the combination of an electromagmftic self-holding push-button and a sto] lnitton, the former bein constructed as just described and the latter differing `from the stop-button just described onlyin the contacts controlled thereby. The block of insulation Al0 is suhstantially the same as the block E3() just described, with the exception that the recesses are smaller, as they are designed simply to receive the two terminals il l2 ol' the circuit of the eleetromagnet (Shown in dotted lines in Figs. 7 and 8.) These recesses are located at lateral notches il in the top plate l5 in the same manne as previously described. To the bottom plate 11G of the frame of this device is secured a plate ol. insulation l?, on which is mounted a pair of springs a8 ,tfl, in the circuit of the magnet 13, which are connected, upon the operation ol the push-button, by the plate 16, as in the previous instance. The stop-button carries at its inllO ner end a head 50, which is normally in contact with a plate 51, mounted upon the insulation 47. The circuit for this device is outlined in Fig. 8, and extends, upon operation of the start-button, from terminal 4l over spring 49, contact-plate 16, spring 48, to and through the coil of magnet 48, to the bottom plate, as at 52, thence to the stem of the stop-button and through contact-head and plate 5l. to the terminal 42. To break this circuit, the stop-button is operated, which carries the head 50 away from its contact-plate. The contact mechanism of this combination of push-buttons is protected in the same manner as that previously described, the casing 53 being fitted snugly to the top plate 45 and to the shoulders formed on the recessed insulation 40. The face-plate is formed also in a manner similar to that of the device previously described, and has marked thereon the words Start and Stop, to designate the self-holding push-button and the circuitbreaking push-button.

I may and by preference do dispense with the stop-button in the device last described, since in the system referred to the car automatically stops at the iioor of the button operated, and the stop-button simply to stop the car on change of purpose would be of little use. The omission of the stop-button tends then rather to the simplilication of the system without affecting its efficiency. The omission of this part would somewhat shorten the case of the device, Figs. 6, 7, and 8, but would not otherwise change its construction. The return-circuit from the magnet, however, would then lead directly to terminal 42.

The casings 36 and 58 are preferably formed of thin sheet metal, though they may be constructed of any desired material, and the frame may be changed in form and construction from that described, and various other changes may also be made without departing from my invention, the gist of which resides in thoroughly protecting the contact mechanism in a manner such that the circuit-terminals may be exposed and rendered accessible at all times Without opening into the chamber containing the parts to be protected, and in concealing the circuit-terminals and the means of attachment for the device in a manner to render them easily accessible and yet provide a neatly-finished exterior for the entire device.

That I claim as my invention is#- l. The combination of the contact mechanism in a push-button or a collection of pushbuttons, a case inclosing the same, the circuit-terminals of said mechanism located eX- teriorly to said case, and a removable faceplate covering said terminals.

2. The combination with a supportingframe, ot one or more push-buttons mounted therein, a block of insulation mounted on said fram e, circuit-terminals located in said block, a casing iitted to said frame and to the insulation to inclose the contact mechanism, and a removable face-plate covering the frame, the insulation and the circuit-terminals.

3. The combination with the frame having the notched top plate, of the push-buttons mounted in the frame, the block of insulation mounted under and closing the notches in the top plate, the circuit-terminals mounted in the insulation and accessible from the upper side thereof, a casing inclosing the contact mechanism, and a face-plate removably secured to the Lipper plate of the frame and covering the circuit-terminals.

4. The combination with the frame having a laterally-notched top plate for securing the frame in place and provided with projecting perforated bosses, of push-buttons mounted in the frame and having stems protruding through said bosses, circuit-terminals located in the notches of the top plate, and a removable face-plate covering the terminals and bearing designations for each push-button and perforated to receive said bosses.

5. The combination with the frame having a bottom plate and a laterally-notched top plate by which the frame is secured in place, of one or more electromagnetic self-holding push-buttons mounted in said frame, the stem of each protruding through the bottom plate and having a contact-piece thereon, a pushbutton having a normally-closed contact in the return-circuit of said self-holding push button or buttons, contact-springs mounted on and insulated from the bottom plate of the frame and cooperating with said contactpieces on the push-button stems, circuit-terminals mounted on insulation in the notches of the top plate, a casing inclosing the electro magnet'or magnets and the contact mechanism, and a face-plate removably secured to said top plate.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 3d day of June, A. D. 1896.

CYPRIEN O. MAILLOUX.

Witnesses:

XVM. H. CAPRI., D. H. DECKER.

IOO

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